Sunday Stealing

Bookish Questions

Get well, Bud!

1. How long did it take you to finish your last book? The book I'm reading now will take me about 60 days to finish. It's an 800-age tome about Paul McCartney and at times it can be slow going because the content -- his mother's death, break up of the Beatles, his father's death, John's murder -- were so painful for him.

2. How many times do you stare at your bookshelves each day? Not that much these days because they're a mess. I had to take all the books off the shelves for the exterminators at the beginning of summer* and I haven't put everything back in proper order yet. It's one my list of things to do.

3. How many Goodreads friends/books do you have? About a dozen friends, about 13 books.

4. Do you ever quote books in public? Yes. But I quote movies more.

5. Do you ever re-read books? Yes. One that springs to mind is Robert B. Parker's Mortal Stakes. I've read it several times and each time I read it I got more out of it. It's superficially a mystery -- who is blackmailing the Boston Red Sox pitching phenomenon? Offer up a mystery set against the backdrop of baseball and of course I'm there. But it's about honor, integrity, and who is strong enough to do what it takes to get the tough job done.

6. Do you judge a book by its cover? I did this book about Sir Paul. I mean, look at him!

7. Do you take pictures of your books before you read them? Ok, you got me. Why on earth would I do this?

8. What are your biggest distractions from reading? Arriving at my stop or having to go back to work. (I like to read on the train or over lunch.)

9. Where is your favorite place to buy books? Amazon is easy. But I also buy lots of books at our annual library book sale and there's an independent bookseller in town that's very good.

10. Do you always have a book with you? Yes.

11. Do you read during breakfast?  A leisurely coffee shop breakfast, just me and my book, is one of my favorite things to do on the weekend.

12. How many hours a day would you say you read? Two.

13. Do you read more or less now than you did, say, 10 years ago? Less.

14. Do you consider yourself a speed reader? No. I don't want to be, either. I like savoring a good book.

15. Do you read in bed? Yes. I've always got magazines or a gossipy biography waiting for me at bedtime. (Brangelina's divorce is sure getting a lot of ink, more even than Kim's robbery. That surprises me. Though it pleases me, too, because I think it's time for our national obsession with the Kardashians to end.)

16. How old were you when you got your first library card? Six

*My building had a problem with bed bugs.

October Challenge -- Day 23

Today's October Daily Prompt: Vampires, zombies and 
monsters, oh my!

From the original Dark Shadows

This is the doomed love affair that had the preteen Gal transfixed. 

She was an orphan -- unloved, no friends or relatives -- who came to Collinsport, Maine, to be the  governess to the scion of the town's leading family. She went from a children's home to a luxurious but distinctly gothic mansion and was soon treated like a member of the family by the wealthy, powerful and distinctly disturbed Collins clan.

One night a mysterious man wearing a cloak and a gaudy ring shows up at the front door. He bears a downright spooky resemblance to the man in the painting in the entryway. The man in the portrait, who wears the same ring, was cousin Barnabas Collins, who disappeared in the late 1700s. The man at the front door also claims to be Barnabas Collins, and says he's been living in London for the past few decades.

The family welcomes their long-lost cousin because, well, who would suspect that that the two Barnabases are one in the same, and he'd been imprisoned for nearly 200 years after being turned into a vampire by a spiteful witch named Angelique?

Barnabas is instantly smitten with sad, solitary but beautiful Victoria. But these two crazy kids are destined for heartache. Because Dark Shadows was, after all, an afternoon soap and on afternoon soaps, all couples must face insurmountable obstacles.